Improvement in transit-rails for slaughter-houses



F. BURNESS & W. KINCAID.

TRANSIT-RAILS FORSLAUGHTER-HOUSES No.185,427. Patenged Dec`.19,1876.

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UNITED STATE-s ,"PA'1.*E*1\T'-l`"-CQDFFICEa FRANK BURNESS AND VVILLIA'MKINCAID, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN TRANSIT-RAILS FOR SLAUGHTER-HOUSES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. l 85,427, datedDecember 19, 1876 application Iiled l March 9, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRANK BURNEss and WILLIAM KINCAID, of Chicago, inthe county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Transit-Rails for Slaughter-Houses; and we do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionthereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying'drawing, forming part of this specification, in which-Figure 1 is a side elevation of a transit-rail embodying our saidinvention, and Fig. 2 is a sectional plan of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in both figures of thedrawing.

Our invention relates to that class of rails used in slaughter-housesfor conveying the slaughtered hogs from the dressing-table to thecooling-room, and has for its object to so arrange the same that onemain rail will communicate with two tables. To that end it consistsinproviding the end of the main rail adjacent to the table with twoswitch-rails, so arranged that as the hog is moved over either one ofthe switch-rails the opposite switchrail is disconnected from the mainrail, and the one supporting the hog connected with the main rail, sothat the hog may be conveyed from either table over the main rail to thecooling-room, as Vwill be more fully understood by the followingdescription and claims:

In the drawing, A represents the framework supporting the rails, whichis suspended from the ceiling-joists of the building in any suitablemanner. B is a series of pendants, permanently attached to the frame A,and extending downward, as shown in Fig. 1. C is the main rail, which ispermanently attached to the lower end of the pendants B, andcommunicating with the cooling-room. D and D are series of pendants,which are also perma` nently attached to frameA, and extend downward toa point in the same plane with the lower end of pendants B. E and E arethe switch-rails, attached to the lower end of pendants D D', anddiverging fromthe end of the main rail to the dressing-tables. Theseswitch-rails are each made in two parts, d e and d e', the parts d and dbeing permanently attached to pendants D D', and the parts e e hinged atone end to the parts d and d', so as to admit of a free and easy tiltingmovement. F is a horizontal lever, fulcrumed upon frame A, as shown inFig. 1, and so arranged as to admit of a free and easy tilting movement.G and G are depending' rods, which are separately attached at theirupper ends to the ends of lever F, and at their lower ends to the partse and e ofthe switch-rails, near the end of the main rail. H is the hookfor supporting the hog when being conveyed from the dressingtable to thecooling-room. This hook is pivoted to a sheave-wheel, f, adapted to restupon the rails, and soarranged asto pass from either switch-rail to themain rail when the switch-rail is at' the limit of its downwardmovement.

The operation of my invention is as follows Hook H being at rest on thepart d of the switch-rail, the hog is taken from the dressing-table andsuspended upon the hook. The latter is then moved forward, and as itpasses upon part e the weight of the animal causes the forward end ofsaid part e to descend, intersecting the main rail and elevating part eof the opposite switch-rail through the medium of rods G G and lever F,disconnecting said part from the main rail, when the hook is movedforward over part e and the main rail to the cooling-room. A second hook(not shown) being at rest on part d' of the opposite switch-rail, a hogis taken from the adjacent dressing-table and suspended on said hook,when the latter is moved forward, causing part e to descend,intersecting the main rail and elevating part e, disconnecting it fromthe main rail, when the hook is moved forward over part e and the mainrail to the cooling-room.

Having thus described our invention, we claim- 1. The combination, withthe main rail C,

switch-rails E d and E d', of the -parts e and e', arranged to admit ofan ascending and descending movement, Y whereby Y the said signed by usthis first day of November, parts are alternatey connected Vwith Vthemarin'V 1875.

Y rail, substantially as and for they purpose de 'lever F, as specified.

scribed FRANK BUBNESS.

2. The combination, with the parts d e and W' KINCAID d e of theswitch-rails, ot' the rods G G' and Witnesses:

J. T. WHIPPLE,

The above specification of our inventionV Y N. H. SHERBURNE;

